This blog is to share my main hobby which is painting and wargaming with miniatures. I paint and play historics, fantasy and sci-fi, from 6 mm to 28 mm.

9/27/2010

Bocage, St Andre de L'Epine. 11 July 1944.

This is the last scenario from Hit the dirt that we could play with the forces I own, and even so, I had to adapt it. Americans count with four Shermans instead of five according to the scenario, and Germans with one Pak 40 instead of two. Also, the American engineers are represented by German troops in camouflage.The objective of the German troops is to keep control of the crossroad for five hours whereas the Americans must take it in that time and without suffering more than half of casualties. All German forces start hidden and count with three barbed wire sections, three snipers and two mine sections.We played at my game buddy's house and most of the scenery is his.As usual all pictures are clickable.

First turn. Americans entering the board.

As soon as one Sherman followed by the engineer platoon, passed the hedges by the road, the PaK 40 hidden behind the bocage fired against the leading Sherman, which was hit but not penetrated. As the anti tank gun did not miss, I was afraid of more reactive fire to moving the other Sherman next to the road, so I decided to move forward the one to the left (bottom).But to my horror, two German squads shot in ambush their later Panzerfausts, and destroyed that tank!The Pak 40 shot again but missed. In my next activation I advanced my infantry who was shot by another hidden German platoon with an attached MG, and pinned almost two complete American platoons (crystal markers for pinned squads). In the firefight I managed to kill most of the German in the orchard, so I forgot about them and crossed with a platoon to the right which naturally was caught in the open by the remaining German squad, who suppressed one of the American squads and snatched the initiative.Now the German player unveiled his 81 mm. mortar FO and bombed my troops in the open, scoring three hits and killing the squad in the centre and suppressing the others! Then the remaining rifle squad in the orchard cap one of the suppressed American squads and retreat out of sight and deployed next to the Pak 40.He also faced his platoon at the bottom forest towards the tanks in the road, circumstance that I used to shoot some smoke in front of the anti tank gun and dash with a platoon deployed in the left.There I killed the German MG but after that I failed my firing and then the German rifles in the wood killed two rifle squads and then the tank in the road with their Panzerfausts.After that I sent my engineers, and assaulted and killed all the Germans in the wood, shot more smoke on the road, rallied all the pinned squads and moved one platoon to the right to cross the road and flank the AT gun, but they stepped into a minefield and suffered one kill and one suppressed.Americans had already suffered more than 50% of casualties and the day was lost. Good game.

I think this will be the last Crossfire game for a while, until the Plastic Soldier Later German infantry will be released, and I expand my companies to battalion level. By that time and with a little bit of luck, the second edition of Crossfire will have been released as well.